7 ms·

Bitcoin for the Befuddled – Our fancy new book and website

79 points by drcode 13y ago

drcode 13y ago
We'll hang out in this thread and answer any questions. (Also happy to answer questions on my other books, "Land of Lisp" or "Realm of Racket")
- Luc 13y ago
  Looks like the site is having some trouble. In Firefox there's no text on the yellow bars (just two arrows and a drawing). In IE I get a blank page.
  - drcode 13y ago
    Hi, everything is looking fine for me in FF22 and IE11. This site does make heavy use of new HTML5 features... If you can let me know which versions of FF and IE you're using (and your OS) that would be helpful, Luc!
    - Luc 13y ago
      Vista, FF 25, IE 9, all up to date. I got the text on the yellow bar to display in FF by disabling Adblock Plus. IE hasn't got any relevant extensions running.
- genericacct 13y ago
  Are you long BTC at this moment? Do you think that makes your opinion of it unbiased?
  - chriswilmer 13y ago
    Co-author writing here. Although we think Bitcoin has (probably) a bright future, the book is really just about explaining how it works (the protocol and the cryptography behind it).
    - xhjien 13y ago
      Question to both authors - The Cicada 3301 group has been linked to BTC (suggestions that Satoshi is a pseudonym for the group), their most recent puzzle had a key code around The Book of Law by Crowley. Just coincidence that your character is also named this, or by design?
      - rplevy 13y ago
        Cicada 3301 is fascinating. Taken at face value (and that's a huge assumption to make) it appears to be a self-styled "cypherpunk freemasonry" of sorts. Care to cite or summarize the evidence and case for a satoshi/cicada link (other than "hey wouldn't that be so awesome if...")?
  - drcode 13y ago
    Yes, I own bitcoins right now (no idea about my co-author.) We are not journalists, just technical book writers. Of course we are probably biased, in the same way that someone writing a stock market book invests in the stock market, or someone that writes about vegetarianism is probably a vegetarian. When I write newspaper opinion pieces on bitcoin (only one so far) I make sure it says in there that I own bitcoins. I definitely agree though that bitcoin raises new questions about conflict of interest when writing about technology.
  - gojomo 13y ago
    Are people who instead hold USD, EUR, or CNY unbiased when writing about those currencies or BTC? I would agree authors should disclose their participation, but I think disinterest/divestment on such matters is an unrealistic goal. Any stake or non-stake implies some personal preferences, and some personal stake is practically a prerequisite for motivating enough attention to understand and explain. (Or as VC John Doerr has said: "No conflict, no interest".)
- pault 13y ago
  It looks like the facebook external hit bot isn't picking up any images or description. You can add some meta tags to facilitate sharing: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11616697/how-to-use-og-meta-tag-for-facebook-share http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11616697/how-to-use-og-me...
  - drcode 13y ago
    Thanks, this is one of the many little SEO things that we need to get more experienced with... That link you sent is very good and will be followed to the letter.
- eliben 13y ago
  Questions about ... what? That's simply a teaser with absolutely zero content. Are you going to answer questions about how you drew that crocodile? I must admit the drawings are lovely, though ;-)
contextual 13y ago
Seriously cool stuff. Are there other formats (PDF for example) for those who want to buy this and read it on their smartphones later?
- drcode 13y ago
  Hi, we're releasing the full book and ebook in Jan-Feb. It will also be available in PDF form and will include all the comics from the website.
mpg33 13y ago
Cointagion is the first site I seen that shows how simple it would to buy digital goods with bitcoins. How could this work with physical goods? Would you just have to "tie" a shipping address to a bitcoin transaction?
- drcode 13y ago
  Were still trying to wrap our heads around the issue of physical shipments in regards to bitcoin purchases ourselves. There is a new "bitcoin payment protocol" for authenticating merchants that is part of the solution and which we discuss in the book... But more and more goods are becoming virtual every day (just consider 3d printing for instance as a way to increase virtualization of products) and this is where bitcoin shines.
  - mpg33 13y ago
    I guess I am thinking about it from the perspective of some company like Amazon adopting it. That would be absolutely massive for bitcoin. I think we are still a long way from being able to "3d print" any product you need.
- maaku 13y ago
  You don't have to do anything of the sort. You negotiate for a spending address using the bitcoin payment protocol, in the process giving them your shipping details.
MarcusBrutus 13y ago
Has anyone yet been able to articulate a defense for BTC against von Mise's "regression theorem" for the origin of money? or show that von Mises was wrong? "this time it's different" is not good enough.
- kinghajj 13y ago
  Here's an interesting paper on this subject that I found via reddit a few days ago. http://konradsgraf.com/blog1/2013/10/23/on-the-origins-of-bitcoin-my-new-work-on-bitcoin-and-monetar.html http://konradsgraf.com/blog1/2013/10/23/on-the-origins-of-bi...
  - lingben 13y ago
    That paper makes a preposterous assertion. Here's the very simplest summary of it and its criticism: http://themisescircle.org/blog/2013/03/19/bitcoin-and-the-regression-theorem/ http://themisescircle.org/blog/2013/03/19/bitcoin-and-the-re...
    - MarcusBrutus 13y ago
      Spot on! I skimmed it very quickly and I also got the feeling that portraying "shiny metals" as something that, in the beginning, only "a few crazy ones" liked to possess (attempting to draw a parallel with BTC's origins) does not stand to scrutiny. Desire for shinny metals and, in general, beautiful objects (diamonds, pearls etc) is hard-coded deeply in the human psyche, is found in myths since the dawn of time and is part of our human nature and our ability to appreciate beauty and being drawn to it. It's preposterous to claim the same for random strings of bits.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
- mike_esspe 13y ago
  Isn't emergence of bitcoin falsified regression theorem? From "Human Action": No good can be employed for the function of a medium of exchange which at the very beginning of its use for this purpose did not have exchange value on account of other employments. And all these statements implied in the regression theorem are enounced apodictically as implied in the apriorism of praxeology. It must happen this way. Nobody can ever succeed in construction a hypothetical case in which things were to occur in a different way. https://mises.org/humanaction/chap17sec4.asp https://mises.org/humanaction/chap17sec4.asp
Jayschwa 13y ago
The yellow "inserts" that pop open are neat but appear too often and become an annoyance. I think you should keep it limited to the fortune teller, cover color voting, and cointagion link. The rest of them seem like filler and add no value, in my opinion.
- drcode 13y ago
  Jayschwa, you might be right, we'll work to adjust that.
brosco45 13y ago
Tulips, except you don't even get the flower delivered this time round..
- maaku 13y ago
  Oh you are so clever.
chwahoo 13y ago
With the mouse sidebar, I think you meant terminal velocity (not escape velocity).
- drcode 13y ago
  Darn, you are right...

79 points by drcode 13y ago

We'll hang out in this thread and answer any questions. (Also happy to answer questions on my other books, "Land of Lisp" or "Realm of Racket")

Luc 13y ago
Looks like the site is having some trouble. In Firefox there's no text on the yellow bars (just two arrows and a drawing). In IE I get a blank page.
- drcode 13y ago
  Hi, everything is looking fine for me in FF22 and IE11. This site does make heavy use of new HTML5 features... If you can let me know which versions of FF and IE you're using (and your OS) that would be helpful, Luc!
  - Luc 13y ago
    Vista, FF 25, IE 9, all up to date. I got the text on the yellow bar to display in FF by disabling Adblock Plus. IE hasn't got any relevant extensions running.
genericacct 13y ago
Are you long BTC at this moment? Do you think that makes your opinion of it unbiased?
- chriswilmer 13y ago
  Co-author writing here. Although we think Bitcoin has (probably) a bright future, the book is really just about explaining how it works (the protocol and the cryptography behind it).
  - xhjien 13y ago
    Question to both authors - The Cicada 3301 group has been linked to BTC (suggestions that Satoshi is a pseudonym for the group), their most recent puzzle had a key code around The Book of Law by Crowley. Just coincidence that your character is also named this, or by design?
    - rplevy 13y ago
      Cicada 3301 is fascinating. Taken at face value (and that's a huge assumption to make) it appears to be a self-styled "cypherpunk freemasonry" of sorts. Care to cite or summarize the evidence and case for a satoshi/cicada link (other than "hey wouldn't that be so awesome if...")?
- drcode 13y ago
  Yes, I own bitcoins right now (no idea about my co-author.) We are not journalists, just technical book writers. Of course we are probably biased, in the same way that someone writing a stock market book invests in the stock market, or someone that writes about vegetarianism is probably a vegetarian. When I write newspaper opinion pieces on bitcoin (only one so far) I make sure it says in there that I own bitcoins. I definitely agree though that bitcoin raises new questions about conflict of interest when writing about technology.
- gojomo 13y ago
  Are people who instead hold USD, EUR, or CNY unbiased when writing about those currencies or BTC? I would agree authors should disclose their participation, but I think disinterest/divestment on such matters is an unrealistic goal. Any stake or non-stake implies some personal preferences, and some personal stake is practically a prerequisite for motivating enough attention to understand and explain. (Or as VC John Doerr has said: "No conflict, no interest".)
pault 13y ago
It looks like the facebook external hit bot isn't picking up any images or description. You can add some meta tags to facilitate sharing: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11616697/how-to-use-og-meta-tag-for-facebook-share http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11616697/how-to-use-og-me...
- drcode 13y ago
  Thanks, this is one of the many little SEO things that we need to get more experienced with... That link you sent is very good and will be followed to the letter.
eliben 13y ago
Questions about ... what? That's simply a teaser with absolutely zero content. Are you going to answer questions about how you drew that crocodile? I must admit the drawings are lovely, though ;-)

contextual 13y ago

Seriously cool stuff. Are there other formats (PDF for example) for those who want to buy this and read it on their smartphones later?

drcode 13y ago
Hi, we're releasing the full book and ebook in Jan-Feb. It will also be available in PDF form and will include all the comics from the website.

mpg33 13y ago

Cointagion is the first site I seen that shows how simple it would to buy digital goods with bitcoins. How could this work with physical goods? Would you just have to "tie" a shipping address to a bitcoin transaction?

drcode 13y ago
Were still trying to wrap our heads around the issue of physical shipments in regards to bitcoin purchases ourselves. There is a new "bitcoin payment protocol" for authenticating merchants that is part of the solution and which we discuss in the book... But more and more goods are becoming virtual every day (just consider 3d printing for instance as a way to increase virtualization of products) and this is where bitcoin shines.
- mpg33 13y ago
  I guess I am thinking about it from the perspective of some company like Amazon adopting it. That would be absolutely massive for bitcoin. I think we are still a long way from being able to "3d print" any product you need.
maaku 13y ago
You don't have to do anything of the sort. You negotiate for a spending address using the bitcoin payment protocol, in the process giving them your shipping details.

MarcusBrutus 13y ago

Has anyone yet been able to articulate a defense for BTC against von Mise's "regression theorem" for the origin of money? or show that von Mises was wrong? "this time it's different" is not good enough.

kinghajj 13y ago
Here's an interesting paper on this subject that I found via reddit a few days ago. http://konradsgraf.com/blog1/2013/10/23/on-the-origins-of-bitcoin-my-new-work-on-bitcoin-and-monetar.html http://konradsgraf.com/blog1/2013/10/23/on-the-origins-of-bi...
- lingben 13y ago
  That paper makes a preposterous assertion. Here's the very simplest summary of it and its criticism: http://themisescircle.org/blog/2013/03/19/bitcoin-and-the-regression-theorem/ http://themisescircle.org/blog/2013/03/19/bitcoin-and-the-re...
  - MarcusBrutus 13y ago
    Spot on! I skimmed it very quickly and I also got the feeling that portraying "shiny metals" as something that, in the beginning, only "a few crazy ones" liked to possess (attempting to draw a parallel with BTC's origins) does not stand to scrutiny. Desire for shinny metals and, in general, beautiful objects (diamonds, pearls etc) is hard-coded deeply in the human psyche, is found in myths since the dawn of time and is part of our human nature and our ability to appreciate beauty and being drawn to it. It's preposterous to claim the same for random strings of bits.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
mike_esspe 13y ago
Isn't emergence of bitcoin falsified regression theorem? From "Human Action": No good can be employed for the function of a medium of exchange which at the very beginning of its use for this purpose did not have exchange value on account of other employments. And all these statements implied in the regression theorem are enounced apodictically as implied in the apriorism of praxeology. It must happen this way. Nobody can ever succeed in construction a hypothetical case in which things were to occur in a different way. https://mises.org/humanaction/chap17sec4.asp https://mises.org/humanaction/chap17sec4.asp

Jayschwa 13y ago

The yellow "inserts" that pop open are neat but appear too often and become an annoyance. I think you should keep it limited to the fortune teller, cover color voting, and cointagion link. The rest of them seem like filler and add no value, in my opinion.

drcode 13y ago
Jayschwa, you might be right, we'll work to adjust that.

brosco45 13y ago

Tulips, except you don't even get the flower delivered this time round..

maaku 13y ago
Oh you are so clever.

chwahoo 13y ago

With the mouse sidebar, I think you meant terminal velocity (not escape velocity).

drcode 13y ago
Darn, you are right...